The theatre of Richard Maxwell and the New York City Players has received significant international recognition over the past ten years. The company has received three OBIEs, for House (1999), Drummer Wanted (2002) and Good Samaritans (2005). Maxwell received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2010 and has been commissioned by venues in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Ireland. Although his productions generate a plethora of reviews, there is a deficit of material providing a critical and sustained engagement with his work. The aim of this book is to provide a critical survey of Maxwell's work since 1992, including his early participation in Cook County Theater Department. Touching upon the acting, production and rehearsal processes of NYC Player's work, and Maxwell's representations of space, community, race, and gender, this volume provides scholars with an important overview of a key figure in contemporary drama.

An unrivalled icon of grace and femininity, Audrey Hepburn is perhaps the most beloved star in the history of cinema. She enchanted millions of people with the sweetness of her smile and her inimitable style and was able to renew her image throughout the decades, anticipating fashion trends and establishing a new ideal of beauty. This volume retraces Hepburn's incredible rise, from the early years to her worldwide fame. The book is divided into four sections: 'A Star is Born', which follows Audrey's first steps into the spotlight as a doe-eyed dancer; 'The Golden Age', how Audrey became the muse of Hubert de Givenchy and gave Hollywood a new ideal of elegance; 'A Diva's Style', which touches on Breakfast at Tiffany's, where Holly Golighty went down in the history of cinema with her sunglasses and little black dress, along with many others of Audrey's later film work; and 'Saving the Children'. This final section of the book puts great emphasis on her humanitarian work as UNICEF ambassador, on the side of all the children of the world. Both on screen and in real life, Audrey has remained faithful to the elegance of understatement and kindness, hidden behind her unforgettable smile.

With her striking looks, the raven-haired, dark eyed Ruth Roman had an air of sophistication that made her seem sexy yet wholesome. She had to strive harder than most to establish herself as a leading actress in Hollywood during its glory years and finally broke through in 1949 with her role in Champion. As one of the last Warner Bros. contract players, she appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's classic Strangers on a Train. Seen at her best in strong parts, such as the ambitious Ronda Castle in Anthony Mann's The Far Country or as a modern-day Lady Macbeth, she enjoyed a varied career as a freelancer before re-inventing herself as a character actress of note on television. A remarkable return to the screen in the bizarre psycho-horror The Baby (1973) assured her of cult status. This is the first book dedicated to a committed but often undervalued actress who is fondly remembered by fans of classic film. More than a biography, it seeks to contextualize the actress within her own time, illuminate her Hollywood experience and celebrate her extensive career.

Arriving in Hollywood in 1950 to launch her American film career, Jean Simmons (1929-2010) had already appeared in 18 British films and was best known for her portrayal of Ophelia in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. She soon became a favorite female face working with some of filmmaking's greats and acted opposite many Hollywood A-listers. Two of her most popular films-Guys and Dolls (1955) and Spartacus (1960)-were international box-office hits, and in her seven decades-long career she collected numerous awards and honors including a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and two Oscar nominations as Best Actress. Despite the accomplishments and accolades, radiant beauty, and stunning versatility, Simmons is considered by many to be an underrated artist, too often handed more comfortable leading female roles than those that could've elevated her to the level of super stardom experienced by some of her peers. This, the first full-length biography of Simmons, fills a gap in film and performing arts studies, and includes extensive notes and photographs.

Few directors in the past three decades have produced movies more compelling, controversial, or confounding than David Lynch (b. 1946). And fewer still have been so reluctant to talk about what they do. In this collection, editor Richard A. Barney has chosen the rare interviews in which Lynch opens up to questions rather than deflecting them. Whether Lynch is talking about his earliest film shorts such as "The Grandmother" or the break-out surrealist feature "Eraserhead," the hit TV series "Twin Peaks" or his Oscar-nominated "The Elephant Man" or "Blue Velvet" or his most recent experimental tours de force, "Mulholland Drive" and "Inland Empire," he stresses the power of image and sound to communicate his vision.

"David Lynch: Interviews" is the first survey of conversations with the director covering the broad spectrum of his artistic activities throughout his career, including filmmaking, painting, music production, and furniture design. It documents the evolution of Lynch's role in discussing his movies, from his self-described "pre-verbal stage" in the early years to his increasingly elaborate, though persistently elusive, articulations. It also registers the intense international interest in Lynch's work, with interviews from French and Spanish sources translated here for the first time.

Carmen Miranda was not only the first Latin American star to be invited to imprint her hands and feet outside Grauman's Chinese
Theatre in Hollywood, she was also, for a period, the highest paid female star in the US. Lisa Shaw's study of Miranda's film career and star persona traces her emergence as one of the first stars of the Brazilian film industry and her subsequent triumph in Hollywood.

Shaw charts Miranda's transition from singer to film star, analysing how her star persona drew on performance techniques honed during her singing career. She examines shifts in Miranda's star identity after her move to Broadway in 1939, and Hollywood a year later, with her identification as an 'ethnic' star emphasised by extravagant baiana costumes.

Shaw shows how Miranda consciously constructed an identity that both endorsed and subverted stereotypes about Latin America
during the era of the 'Good Neighbor Policy', and explores Miranda's appeal across mainstream and marginalised audiences, both in the US and Brazil. Finally, she considers why Miranda's image is still instantly recognisable, examining her impact on material culture, particularly women's fashions, both during her lifetime and until the present day, and the role played in the consecration of her 'tropical' star persona by imitators, ranging from Bugs Bunny, Lucille Ball and Mickey Rooney, to contemporary Carmen Miranda imitators of both genders

Brigitte Bardot's rise from fashion model and film starlet to global celebrity was meteoric and unprecedented: after her breakthrough role in Et Dieu ... crea la femme in 1956, audiences the world over rushed to see her films. Predating Beatlemania, she provoked mass hysteria: paparazzi stalked her, journalists, sociologists and novelists wrote about her; young women imitated her style. All at once sex bomb, radical proto-feminist and scandalous figurehead of a hedonistic and sexually free lifestyle, 'B.B.' was France's first mass-media star.

In this original and illuminating study, film scholar and Bardot fan Ginette Vincendeau explores the star's complex and revolutionary
image of femininity, her film career and her lasting and controversial celebrity. Analysing all Bardot's output, encompassing popular
comedies and melodramas, work with New Wave directors Louis Malle and Jean-Luc Godard, and international productions such
as Dear Brigitte (1965) and Shalako (1968), Vincendeau shows how Bardot's enduring fame is based on her status as a sexual, lifestyle, musical, and fashion role model and even, in her guise as Marianne, the emblem of the French Republic, an icon of national
identity. Finally, she considers the ageing Bardot's continued prominence in popular culture through her own writings and animal rights activism, arguing that, as well as a glamorous film star, Bardot was one of the inventors of modern celebrity.

This is the story of one boy's journey from an ordinary childhood in a European middle-class family into an alien world of terror and persecution where fear and violence reigned. Millions had to perish before Germany was defeated and the Continent could return to sanity. The Nazis' rise to power had transformed occupied Europe into a hostile environment where life for Jews had become a living hell. Suddenly, old relationships had been swept aside as neighbours and friends had suddenly become enemies and would-be persecutors. Survival now depended on learning new skills and sharpening newly acquired instincts. The margin between freedom and incarceration was often minute. Under such a brutally repressive regime life became dependent on quick thinking and adjustment to every new situation. Living on the razor's edge those instincts soon become second nature, and with it new, hitherto unsuspected abilities to cope. With familiarity and increasing self-confidence it was inevitable that some bravado could also creep in. How else could such escapades as earning money in the epicenter of the Nazi war machine - a German Army HQ in occupied Budapest be explained? . Also described are the realities of life under continuous bombardment, from the air and by artillery, in a city laid waste and under siege where one was continually in danger, hungry and cold. To alleviate that hunger it became necessary to find food from unusual sources such as cutting flesh from army horses killed in the shelling and drinking melted snow. Everything had its uses and was recycled: even shoe polish could be used as a substitute for candles for lighting up a dark cellar in a ruined city where electricity, gas and water supplies as well as all the amenities of modern life were but a distant memory. The siege of Budapest ended with liberation by the Red Army and the realization of the terrible cost in human terms - especially that of Jews - of the Nazi regime.Starting a new life in England and a return to normalcy, concentrating on integration and education; preparing for a worthwhile career in a free and happy environment bring the story full circle. It shows that trauma need not necessarily be injurious but can also have a positive effect that leads to a greater appreciation of life and acts as a stimulant for achievement.Service in the British army, immigration to Israel and serving in the Israeli army as well as creating a family and a career conclude the narrative.Originally this memoir was intended for my children, but as it took shape I felt it could be of interest to the general reader who may wish to look at this cataclysmic era as seen through the eyes of a child.

Henry Irving (1838-1905), the first actor to be knighted, dominated the theatre in Britain and beyond for over a quarter of a century. As an actor, he was strikingly different with his idiosyncratic pronunciation, his somewhat ungainly physique, and his brilliant psychological portrayals of virtue and villainy. He was also the director of spectacular, and commercially driven, entertainments and as the manager of the Lyceum theatre, he controlled every aspect of the performance. First published in 2008, this collection of essays by leading theatre scholars explores each element of Irving's art: his acting, his contribution to the plays he commissioned, his flair for the stage picture, and his ear for incidental music. This book will be of interest to those studying the history of theatre.

This first-ever biography of American actress Anne Francis will enlighten her casual fans and earn a nod of agreement from her diehard admirers. The star of such 1950s cinematic classics as Bad Day at Black Rock, Blackboard Jungle and Forbidden Planet, Anne made the risky decision to transplant her talents to television--and as a result, her acting has often been taken for granted. But TV supplied her with the groundbreaking title role in Honey West (1965-66), where she became the first leading actress to portray a private detective on a regular weekly series. All of Anne Francis' film and television appearances are chronicled, including a full episode guide for Honey West and a complete listing of her guest roles on such series as The Twilight Zone, The Untouchables and Murder, She Wrote.

This book explores how comedian Stephen Colbert's satiric views of American life have captured the imagination of viewers around the world-and sharpened these individuals' own critical interpretations and opinions on current events. Stephen Colbert may be "just a comedian"-one not all audiences find funny, especially among those who have been mercilessly lampooned by him-but there is no arguing that the condescending, bombastic, and largely ignorant pundit he plays on Comedy Central has brought awareness of current events and political happenings to a substantially larger portion of the American population. The only available biography on Stephen Colbert, this book examines his life story and details how he became one of the most influential people on current American culture. Beginning with coverage of Colbert's childhood, the chapters discuss his education, highlighting his interest in drama; describe his introduction to the world of comedy; review his contributions as a "correspondent" on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart; and focus on Colbert's accomplishments and antics as the star of his faux news program that debuted in the fall of 2005, The Colbert Report. Photographs depicting Stephen Colbert liven the text A bibliography supplies additional resources, such as websites and magazine and journal articles

Cecil Packer was a farm labourer, a factory worker, a shepherd and a devoted family man from Wiltshire who like so many others was sent to France to fight for his country in the First World War, and never returned. Cecil survived both the Gallipoli and Somme campaigns, so for his descendants, his death on the Western Front when his battalion was far from the front line was a mystery as well as a tragedy. Alan Gaunt, whose wife Shirley is Cecil's great-granddaughter, set about researching Cecil's humble but interesting life and finally established the tragic circumstances of his accidental death in December 1916 at the age of 31."This is not the story of a traditional hero in the mould of Nelson or Wellington but that of a village shepherd, a local man who did not come from the nobility or the ranks of the nation's leaders but simply loved his family and died in the service of his country."

Elizabeth Taylor was one of the major film stars of the twentieth century, embodying all the glamour and allure of Hollywood stardom. Yet her achievements as an actress have often been overshadowed by her beauty and tumultuous life off-screen. To redress this imbalance, Susan Smith offers an illuminating study of Elizabeth Taylor's work in film, exploring her fascinating trajectory from child to adult star. Smith reveals the influence that Taylor's early work exerted over her later career and the ways in which her on-screen identity is profoundly rooted in her association with animals and nature. Smith carefully unpicks what made Taylor such a distinctive and dynamic on-screen performer - from the expressive use she made of her eyes to the dramatic significance of her voice - and considers the importance of certain professional collaborations that Taylor forged during her career, most notably her acting partnership with Montgomery Clift.

'The book is great: moving but also properly funny.' Hadley Freeman, The Guardian 'A memoir with an unusual sense of purpose. . . pithy, highly readable' The Times The entire world knows Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, the teenage sidekick of Doc Brown in Back to the Future. His two previous bestselling memoirs, Lucky Man and Always Looking Up, dealt with how he came to terms with the illness, all the while exhibiting his iconic optimism. In No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality, Michael shares personal stories and observations about illness and health, ageing, the strength of family and friends, and how our perceptions about time affect the way we approach mortality. Thoughtful and moving, but with Fox's trademark sense of humour, his book provides a vehicle for reflection about our lives, our loves, and our losses. Running through the narrative is the drama of the medical madness Fox recently experienced, that included his daily negotiations with the Parkinson's disease he's had since 1991, and a spinal cord issue that necessitated immediate surgery. His challenge to learn how to walk again, only to suffer a devastating fall, nearly caused him to ditch his trademark optimism and "get out of the lemonade business altogether." Does he make it all of the way back? Read the book.

This book gives a new view on the legacy of Jerzy Grotowski (1933-1999), one of the central, and yet misunderstood, figures who shaped 20th-century theatre, focusing on his least known last phase of work on ancient songs and the craft of the performer. Salata posits Grotowski's work as philosophical practice, and more particularly, as practical research in the phenomenology of being, arguing that Grotowski's departure from theatrical productions (and thus critical consideration) resulted from his uncompromising pursuit of one central problem, "What does it mean to reveal oneself?" - the very question that drove his stage directing work. The book demonstrates that the answer led him through the path of gradually stripping the theatrical phenomenon down to its most elemental aspect, which shows itself through the craft of the performer as a non-representational event. This particular quality released at the heights of the art of the performer is referred to as aliveness, or true liveness in this study in order to shift scholarly focus onto something that has always fascinated great theatre practitioners, including Stanislavski and Grotowski, and of which academic scholarship has limited grasp. Salata's theoretical analysis of aliveness reaches out to phenomenology and a broad range of post-structural philosophy and critical theory, through which Grotowski's project is portrayed as philosophical practice.

This book discusses affective practices in performance through the study of four contemporary performers - Keith Hennessy, Ilya Noe, Caro Novella, and duskin drum - to suggest a tentative rhetoric of performativity generating political affect and permeating attempts at social justice that are often alterior to discourse. The first part of the book makes a case for the political work done alongside discourse by performers practising with materials that are not-known, in ways that are directly relevant to people carrying out their daily lives. In the second part of the book, four case study chapters circle around figures of irresolvable paradox - hendiadys, enthymeme, anecdote, allegory - that gesture to what is not-known, to study strategies for processes of becoming, knowing and valuing. These figures also shape some elements of these performances that make up a suggested rhetorical stance for performativity.

Marvelously illustrated with more than 200 rare images from the silent era through the 1970s, this joyous treasure trove features film and televisions most famous actors and actresses celebrating the holidays, big and small, in lavishly produced photographs. Join the stars for festive fun in celebrating a variety of holidays, from New Years to Saint Patricks Day to Christmas and everything in between. Legends such as Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, and Audrey Hepburn spread holiday cheer throughout the calendar year in iconic, ironic, and illustrious style. These images, taken by legendary stills photographers, hearken back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, when motion picture studios devised elaborate publicity campaigns to promote their stars and to keep their names and faces in front of the movie-going public all year round.

The Routledge Companion to Michael Chekhov brings together Chekhov specialists from around the world - theatre practitioners, theorists, historians and archivists - to provide an astonishingly comprehensive assessment of his life, work and legacy. This volume aims to connect East and West; theatre theory and practice. It reconsiders the history of Chekhov's acting method, directing and pedagogy, using the archival documents found across the globe: in Russia, England, America, Germany, Lithuania and Switzerland. It presents Chekhov's legacy and ideas in the framework of interdisciplinary theatre practices and theories, as well as at the crossroads of cultures, in the context of his forays into such areas as Western mime and Asian cosmology. This remarkable Companion, thoughtfully edited by two leading Chekhov scholars, will prove invaluable to students and scholars of theatre, theatre practitioners and theoreticians, and specialists in Slavic and transcultural studies. Marie-Christine Autant-Mathieu is Director of Research at the National Center For Scientific Research, and Assistant-Director of Sorbonne-CNRS Institute EUR'ORBEM. She is an historian of theatre and specialist in Russian and Soviet theatre. Yana Meerzon is Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre, University of Ottawa. Her book publications include Adapting Chekhov: The Text and Its Mutations, co-edited with Professor J. Douglas Clayton, University of Ottawa (Routlegde, 2012).

The 15th in a series drawn from scholarship presented at the annual Comparative Drama Conference at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, this collection provides insights into texts and practices currently at the forefront of theatrical discussion. The volume includes various essays on the intersections of script and performance, and features an exclusive interview with keynote speaker, playwright Simon Stephens.

Joan Littlewood was one of the most visionary and influential theatre directors of the twentieth century. Drawing on extensive archival research and detailed performance histories, and paying close attention to wider political and cultural forces, this innovative study presents a fresh examination of Littlewood's treatment of the politics of war, Renaissance plays, marginalised communities and popular culture in productions such as Oh What a Lovely War, A Taste of Honey and Richard II. The book breaks new ground with a sustained examination of Littlewood's paratheatrical activity that centred on her ambitious plans for the Fun Palace, a multifaceted cultural centre, and her numerous playground projects for young people. Alert to critical thinking on ethics, citizenship, cultural politics, class and space, Joan Littlewood's Theatre will deepen and extend knowledge and understanding of the innovative theatrical, cultural and community-based practices generated by Littlewood throughout her career.